“Drug incidents and overdoses related to fentanyl are occurring at an alarming rate throughout the United States and represent a significant threat to public health and safety,” DEA Administrator Michele M. Leonhart said in a statement to the press. “Often laced in heroin, fentanyl and fentanyl analogues produced in illicit clandestine labs are up to 100 times more powerful than morphine and 30 to 50 times more powerful than heroin.”

One Clear Answer

The widespread availability and use of naloxone (often known as Narcan) kits, (See Figure 1.) and the operation of naloxone-kit distribution programs in high-risk areas, could significantly reduce the numbers of deaths and injuries. National Public Radioreported on the use of naloxone saving the life of a man who had overdosed on a combination of fentanyl and heroin

Last year, Philadelphia officials announced at least 28 people died after using heroin laced with fentanyl in March and April. Earlier in 2014, law enforcement officials said heroin laced with fentanyl was suspected in at least 50 fatal overdoses in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Michigan.

Seizures of illegal drugs containing fentanyl more than tripled between 2013 and 2014, according to USA Today. The National Forensic Laboratory Information System, which collects data from police labs, received 3344 fentanyl submissions last year, up from 942 the previous year.

Between 2005 and 2007, more than 1,000 U.S. deaths were attributed to fentanyl, many of them in Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia. The source of the drug was traced to a single lab in Mexico. The surge of deaths ended when the lab was identified and dismantled, the DEA said.